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Dale LaCroix has a long history in Law Enforcement and is featured in our spotlight article this month. LaCroix has authored a new white paper for LEID Products on the financial benefits of using our BACS System.
 While Deputy Chief at Waterford, LaCroix was responsible for the budget of a Police Department that was involved with the evaluation of one of the first Biometric Access Control Systems (BACS) from LEID Products. LaCroix has since been asked by police administrators if he felt that the cost of the system was justifiable. He always responds that the cost is easily justifiable and that you cannot afford to not have a system of this type.
In this white paper, LaCroix explains the time loss inherent in the old process their department went through daily with supervisors manually issuing equipment to officers as the shift started and the manual process for logging the equipment back in when the officer's shift ended. LaCroix goes on to explain how the time savings alone paid for their system in about 18 months. Yet, additional cost savings were also realized in the ability to have multiple officers share equipment in lieu of purchasing individual equipment for each officer.
While the measurable cost savings are impressive, the BACS System also included unexpected additional asset management features. LaCroix noted the most significant benefit went way beyond the measurable savings factors. The reduction in liability exposure it provided is hard to measure but perhaps the most significant.
How does the BACS System reduce liability exposure?
Restricted access to equipment - The system was designed to efficiently issue weapons to officers restricting their access to only the weapons they were qualified to use. For example, if an officer was not taser certified, a taser would not be on his customized list of equipment available for check out.
Firearms training documentation tracking - the BACS System can be used to track all officers' weapon qualifications to include recurrent training. Having accurate, up-to-date training and qualifications records proved to be an invaluable point of reference when the department had an officer involved in a 'use of force' situation.
No misplaced or missing equipment - The department's inventory control of weapons and auxiliary equipment was improved greatly with the BACS system over the old sign out system. Every department has had incidents where items are lost for a time and turn up later or sometimes never at all, and no one seems to know what really happened. The civil liability of a lost item can be extremely costly.
Equipment always in proper working order - The BACS System was also built with an equipment maintenance application within the software, along with the ability for an officer to tag an item for maintenance when returning an item at the end of a shift. Making sure equipment is working properly and maintained on schedule could save a department from an embarrassing situation at best, to a costly civil action should a piece of equipment not work properly when deployed.
LaCroix concluded his white paper with the following statement:
"The initial cost of the system for our department was more than paid for with only the time savings from supervisor's wages in just eighteen months. There were also added cost savings in the ability to have multiple officers share equipment in lieu of purchasing equipment for each officer. The cost savings in the liability area are hard to put real numbers to, but could be the greatest savings of all. It is my opinion that no department should be without this type of system, and in reality, most cannot afford not to have this system."
We appreciate the effort and time Dale LaCroix invested in writing this white paper to share his knowledge and experience using the BACS System with fellow Law Enforcement colleagues. If you are interested in the reading the full white paper, please email Georgia Whalen at gwhalen@LEIDProducts.com.
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Dale LaCroix has dedicated over 30 years working in Law Enforcement. LaCroix began his career serving our country in the United States Air Force as a Law Enforcement Specialist. After his service in the US Air Force, LaCroix spent over 25 years rising through the ranks of the Waterford, Michigan Township Police Department. After retiring from Waterford, LaCroix served as Chief of Police for the City of Clarkston, Michigan from September 2007 through October 2010. 
